Benzinga - by Shanthi Rexaline, Benzinga Editor.
Cathie Wood-run Ark Invest on Friday bulked up on Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) even as the stock continued to sag.
What Happened: Ark, through its Ark Innovation ETF (NYSE:ARKK) and Ark Next Generation Internet ETF (NYSE:ARKW), bought 111,802 Tesla shares, valued at $24.47 million shares. Tesla closed Friday’s session down 3.67% at $218.89, according to Benzinga Pro data.
This marked a back-to-back purchase as Ark added 112,475 Tesla shares worth $25.56 million on Thursday. Together, the firm added roughly $50 million worth of Tesla shares this week.
Tesla is the second-highest holding in Ark’s flagship exchange-traded fund, the ARKK, making up a weighting of 7.90%. The Elon Musk-led company’s stock is the top holding of the Ark Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF (CBOE: ARKQ) with a 11.98% weighting. It is the sixth-highest holding of ARKW with a 5.20% weighting.
Ark’s 13F, filed with the SEC in mid-October, showed that its Tesla stake stood at 4,078,651 shares valued at $1.02 billion.
Why It’s Important: Tesla’s stock witnessed a 101% surge in 2023, and a substantial portion of the gains occurred predominantly in the early part of the year. A slew of price cuts the company announced last year did not yield the desired results and instead dragged core auto margins, exerting downward pressure on the stock in the second half of the year.
The weakness continued into the new year. The stock is down 11.91% so far in January amid a sell-off in the tech space, especially the mega-caps. Tesla did not do a favor to itself by announcing a price cut in China this week even as investors began discounting stable prices.
The stock could remain under pressure until the fourth-quarter earnings report due after the market close on Jan. 24. Analysts currently estimate earnings of 67 cents per share, down from $1.19 per share a year ago. Revenue may have slipped 4.70% to $23.17 billion. Analysts say investors could be keen on finding out about the core auto gross margin and the 2024 deliveries guidance.
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Read Next: ‘Credits To The Tesla Team:’ Elon Musk Applauds His Workers As EV Giant Eclipses Legacy Automakers’ Sales Growth Over 8 Years
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